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Ferry Beach Park Association is a popular retreat center informed by Unitarian Universalist traditions and located in Saco, Maine. Since 1979, an annual GAYLA retreat has provided gay men a space to connect and grow in their spirituality. The retreat offers chapel services, workshops, small discussion groups, and recreational activities. Ron Willett of Lowell, Massachusetts, has been attending GAYLA for eighteen years and, because of his attendance, he has gone from being religiously unaffiliated to being an active member of his Unitarian Universalist congregation. (Journal Tribune - 7.16.18)
California UUs support immigrant detainees
Friends of Orange County Detainees (FOCD) grew out of a group formed by women from Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Mission Viejo, California. They visited detainees in a county jail in nearby Irvine to offer a friendly face and material support where possible. As the separation of families became widely covered in the news, interest in supporting these detainees has grown significantly. Sheryl Hagen, a leader with FOCD, observed: “It’s shed a huge light on the immigrant-detention process and what people go through when they come here. People are not at all aware that when people come asking for asylum, this is what happens to them; they get caught up in this process.” (Los Angeles Times - 7.19.18)
Performance explores life of Unitarian theologian
Hoping to highlight how sixteenth-century Spanish theologian and physician Michael Servetus has shaped Unitarian Universalism, the Rev. Dennis McCarty has developed a traveling musical about Servetus's life and ideas. A recent performance at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Southwestern Utah in St. George was well-received. Attendee Mike Kruse called it a “wonderful historical musical" and said it showed how reason and love should be the foundation of religion rather than dogma and condemnation. (The Spectrum - 7.14.18)